Astronomical transit
The term
transit or
astronomical transit has two meanings in astronomy:
* A
transit is the
astronomical event that occurs when one
celestial body appears to move across the face of another celestial body, as seen by an observer at some particular vantage point.
* A
transit occurs when a celestial body crosses the
meridian due to the Earth's rotation, about halfway between rising and setting. For instance, the
Sun transits the meridian at solar
noon. Observation of meridian transits was once very important for timekeeping purposes.
The rest of this article refers to the first kind of transit.
The word "transit" refers to cases where the nearer object appears considerably smaller in apparent size than the more distant object. Cases where the nearer object appears larger and completely hides the more distant object are known as
occultations. Cases where one object moves into the shadow of another are known as
eclipses. Each of these three terms are the visible effects of a
syzygy.
One example of a transit involves the motion of a
planet between a
terrestrial observer and the
Sun. This can happen only with
inferior planets, namely
Mercury and
Venus (see
transit of Mercury and
transit of Venus). However, as seen from outer planets such as
Mars, the
Earth itself transits the Sun on occasion.
The term can also be used to describe the motion of a
satellite across its parent planet, for instance one of the Galilean satellites (
Io,
Europa,
Ganymede,
Callisto) across
Jupiter, as seen from
Earth.
A transit requires three bodies to be lined up in a single line. More rare are cases where four bodies are lined up. One such case occurred on
March 21 1894 at around 23:00 UTC, when
Mercury transited the Sun as seen from Venus, and Mercury and Venus both simultaneously transited the Sun as seen from
Saturn (see
Transit of Mercury from Saturn and
Transit of Venus from Saturn).
In recent years the discovery of
extrasolar planets has excited interest in the possibility of detecting their transits across their own
stellar primaries.
HD 209458b is the first such transiting planet to be discovered.
In rare cases, one planet can transit in front of another. The next time this will happen (as seen from Earth) will be on
November 22 2065 at about 12:43
UTC, when Venus near
superior conjunction (with an
angular diameter of 10.6") will transit in front of
Jupiter (with an angular diameter of 30.9"); however, this will take place only 8° west of the Sun, and will therefore not be visible to the unaided/unprotected eye. When the nearer object has a larger
angular diameter than the farther object, thus covering it completely, the event is not a transit but an
occultation. Before transiting Jupiter, Venus will occult Jupiter's
moon Ganymede at around 11:24 UTC as seen from some southernmost parts of Earth.
Parallax will cause actual observed times to vary by a few minutes, depending on the precise location of the observer.
There are only 18 mutual planetary transits and occultations as seen from Earth between 1700 and 2200. Note the long break of events between 1818 and 2065.
*
19 Sep 1702 - Jupiter occults Neptune
*
20 Jul 1705 - Mercury transits Jupiter
*
14 Jul 1708 - Mercury occults Uranus
 |
A simulation of Venus transiting Jupiter, as it did on January 3, 1818. |
*
4 Oct 1708 - Mercury transits Jupiter
*
28 May 1737 - Venus occults Mercury
*
29 Aug 1771 - Venus transits Saturn
*
21 Jul 1793 - Mercury occults Uranus
*
9 Dec 1808 - Mercury transits Saturn
*
3 Jan 1818 - Venus transits Jupiter
*
22 Nov 2065 - Venus transits Jupiter
*
15 Jul 2067 - Mercury occults Neptune
*
11 Aug 2079 - Mercury occults Mars
*
27 Oct 2088 - Mercury transits Jupiter
*
7 Apr 2094 - Mercury transits Jupiter
*
21 Aug 2104 - Venus occults Neptune
*
14 Sep 2123 - Venus transits Jupiter
*
29 Jul 2126 - Mercury occults Mars
*
3 Dec 2133 - Venus occults MercuryThe
1737 event was observed by
John Bevis at
Greenwich Observatory - it is the only detailed account of a mutual planetary occultation. A transit of Mars across Jupiter on
12 Sep 1170 was observed by the monk Gervase at
Canterbury, and by Chinese astronomers.
*
November 29 2022 - Earth occults Mercury as seen from Mars [
1]
During a transit there are four "contacts", when the
circumference of the small circle (small body disk) touches the circumference of the large circle (large body disk) at a single point. The contacts happen in the following order:
*
First contact: the smaller body is entirely outside the larger body, moving inward
*
Second contact: the smaller body is entirely inside the larger body, moving further inward
*
Third contact: the smaller body is entirely inside the larger body, moving outward
*
Fourth contact: the smaller body is entirely outside the larger body, moving outward
*
Transit of asteroids*
Transit of Vulcan*
Transit of Phobos from Mars*
Transit of Deimos from MarsFor transit of planets in front of others, see also
occultation.
*Meeus, Jean:
Transits. Richmond, Virginia: Willmann-Bell, Inc., 1989, ISBN 0-943396-25-5.
*Meeus, Jean:
Astronomical Tables of the Sun, Moon and Planets. Richmond, Virginia: Willmann-Bell, Inc., 1995, ISBN 0-943396-45-X.
